Item Detail
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Claremont Colleges Library
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Located in Claremont, CA
Single library supporting seven private institutions
Reporting structure for the library changes every three years to a different institution
Also reports through the Claremont Colleges corporate structurePomona College
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduate: 1,747Claremont Graduate University
R2: Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity
Graduate: 2,261SCRIPPS College (women’s)
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduate: 1,089
Graduate: 20Claremont McKenna College
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduate: 1,328
Graduate: 21Harvey Mudd College
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduate: 905Pitzer College
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Undergraduate: 1,067Keck Graduate Institute
Master's Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
Graduate: 617 -
6136
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2919
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Governing/managing body: Library
Funding
State government -
Leveraging library resources
Workshops - Running regular workshops and inviting faculty from all institutions
Publishing - Pressbooks - licensed by SCELC (Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium)
Digital Scholarship Collaboratory - a physical space in the library dedicated to using alternative course materials
Open Education Week events -
The Claremont Colleges Library is in a unique situation of supporting seven private institutions. With this situation comes a struggle with “permissions” to do things on the campus. At what level (library, campus, system) is permission necessary to initiate activities on the campuses. It can seem disorganized, as is evident in this question, “How do you manage that disorganization to do one thing that is going to support all of these institutions at once?”
One of the most effective ways to connect with the campuses is through the twelve liaison librarians. The librarians participate in an annual OER and affordability workshop where the state of OER for each campus is discussed as well as new OER repositories or content. Through this they “feel confident enough, now that I've worked with them, that they know where to find materials.” These librarians have direct connections to faculty at the campuses. One group of librarians have found great success, “Those STEM liaison librarians have sort of really bought into this and they've started hunting down alternative books that they can on the fly recommend, and say, ‘Why don't you consider this neuroscience book instead.’”
Despite being in such a unique situation, the responsible librarian is able to effectively advocate for OER and affordability on each of the campuses. The student governments have been responsive to the extent that “some of the Student Union groups are starting to think about [OER]. They've reached out to us to ask how they can get involved with the student PIRG.”
Getting involved with faculty consists of approaching new faculty and giving a series of workshops during the first and second semester after they are hired. The first semester workshop helps define OER and how to use them pedagogically and during the second semester the faculty is paired with a liaison librarian during Open Ed week. During this time they work together to explore possible uses of OER and more affordable practices. In addition the OER librarian participates at one of the institutions in “a special workshop . . . called ‘Preparing Future Faculty.’”
Since each of the institutions is so small there are very “effective ways that we can collaboratively share resources that we find, create things [together] as well as have partnerships with other universities.”
Publishing in Pressbooks has been effective, with five active books currently. Though this is only a beginning, it demonstrates the potential impact on student savings.
All of these efforts have increased awareness on the seven campuses. Success is being found in knowing that faculty are aware of the efforts of the library in OER and affordability. An example of the success found is an adjunct faculty who is asked to teach more sections because his no-cost course fills up before others that use purchased textbooks.